Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

This week is an important one for Capital Metro riders, as several big transit decisions hang in the balance and will be discussed at public meetings this week. The topics at hand: January 2011 service changes, MetroAccess policy changes, and Capital Metro’s fiscal year 2011 budget. We had three meetings last night, and another eight scheduled the rest of this week and early next. Whew.

I know, you’ve told us before, the public meetings are lame. Who has time for another meeting during the day? In truth, we will likely always host a public meeting or two, plus of course a public hearing, on each major decision/issue, simply because it ensures equal public access. But we’re trying some new things that we think are big improvements to the overall public outreach process for various transit decisions.

For example, this week we’re hosting our first ever online meeting about the FY2011 budget. It’s over the lunch hour on Thursday, and once you register for the meeting, all you need to do is login to the meeting from your computer. No hassles with travel to/from the meeting, parking, etc. I hope you’ll check it out and let us know if this is a format you’d like to see again.

Some of the other improvements include an increased use of videos about the issue at hand that can be widely distributed and shared. You can watch a video about the FY2011 budget (in English and Spanish) and also a video about the MetroAccess proposed changes. We’ve also begun conducting transit outreach at our transit facilities when we know people are coming home from work, etc. The proposed service changes for January include some changes to express routes, and therefore we’ve been meeting with riders at the Leander Station and Tech Ridge Park & Ride. We’ll be at Lakeline Station for this afternoon’s commute. Kudos to our Business and Community Development team who have spearheaded these improvements to our outreach process.

Here are all the meeting/public hearing events taking place this week and next. The Capital Metro Board will make final decisions on these topics at their board meeting on Sept. 24.

Proposed MetroAccess Policy Changes: In order to ensure the future sustainability of MetroAccess service, the Capital Metro Board of Directors is considering changes to MetroAccess policies and amendments to Capital Metro’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Plan. Click here to learn more.

Proposed January Service Change: Capital Metro has proposed several changes to its transit system that would improve route directness and connectivity while increasing efficiency of the system. If approved, these changes will take effect Jan. 16, 2011. Click here to learn more.